


Anyone Else But You

by hellasmol



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Confessions, Flashbacks, Juno - Freeform, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Movie Night, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), broganes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-26 01:29:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15652980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellasmol/pseuds/hellasmol
Summary: Ellen Page helps Keith realize his feelings for Lance. AKA I'm Bitter About S7 So Have Some Klance Fluff I Wrote A Couple Months Ago.





	Anyone Else But You

The night started out as normal as any other, everyone met up at Keith and Shiro’s for movie night. This obligatory Friday every other week guaranteed the crew saw each other on a consistent basis so that they wouldn’t drown in a sea of work hours, school assignments and other responsibilities. It was Lance’s idea, but they used Shiro’s place because it was the biggest. It was no mansion or anything but Shiro’s job provided a paycheck large enough to keep him and his younger brother pretty comfortable. Their living room was spacious and provided more than enough space for the six of them.

 

  It was Lance’s turn to pick the movie and he bursted through the door with his very own copy of Juno, huge grin stretched across his face. Keith would’ve complained no matter which film he picked just to get a rise out of the guy, watch as his brows furrowed and his voice got higher the more defensive he got, admire the way his nose scrunched up adorably when he got mad.  _ Wait, what? _ Keith shook the thought out of his head and got up off the couch to help put out snacks on the coffee table. Pidge and Hunk could always be counted on, having brought everything from candy to chips to chocolate covered raisins. Who needs a movie theater? 

 

  The seating arrangement for this evening consisted of Hunk and Pidge sharing the smaller couch, Allura on one end of the larger one, Keith on the other end with Shiro in the middle. Keith leaned to one side, less than enthusiastic about whatever Lance was about to make him sit through. When Lance finally came out of the kitchen with the biggest bowl of popcorn Keith had ever seen, he decided to set himself up on the floor directly in front of the mulleted young man. Confused, Keith spoke up. “I’m sure the loveseat would be way more comfortable.” he said, glancing at the empty piece of furniture on the other side of the room. “Better view.” Lance replied. “This is like one of my favorite movies, I wanna get up close and personal.” he said as he leaned back against Keith’s legs. Keith let out a dry chuckle and adjusted himself on the couch to let Lance lean back against the couch in the space between Keith’s legs. As Lance started up the movie Keith let his eyes linger a bit too long at the back of his head, tracing his eyes down the nape of his neck until he was startled by the beginning of some weird folk song that signaled the start of the movie.

 

  No matter how much he’d hate to admit it, especially to Lance, Keith actually really enjoyed it. Not just the movie, but also watching as Lance’s shoulders shook with laughter and his head swayed side to side along to the soundtrack. His favorite part though, had to be in the last few minutes of the film. The two teens sitting across from each other, strumming their guitars to what Keith could only describe as the dorkiest love song ever was enjoyable enough but what had him holding his breath was when Lance started to sing along. He had leaned his head back against the couch cushion and Keith could see that his eyes were closed, singing along with perfect timing as though he’d watched the scene a thousand times, maybe he had. Keith even wondered if he was even aware he was singing it. He watched in fascination following the movement of his lips, the steady rise and fall of his chest, and that’s when Keith realized he had stopped breathing. Impulsively, he let out everything at once through his nose and snapped Lance out of his daze. Lance lifted his head off of the cushion and turned to face Keith, the dark of the room effectively hiding the blush painting his fair skin, “My singing annoy you that much?” Lance asked raising an eyebrow. Keith’s eyes widened, “Wha- no, I- I was just-” “Don’t ‘What? No I-I-I was just’ me, mullet! I’ll have you know I come from a long line of singers and my voice is nothing short of melodious!” Keith keeps quiet as Lance dramatically storms off into the kitchen, empty popcorn bowl in tow.

 

  After everyone finishes tidying up the living room, everyone starts filing out of the apartment. Hunk drove Pidge so they left together, Pidge yelling an “Until next time, Broganes!” over her shoulder on the way out the door. Allura gave Shiro and Keith a big hug before making her departure, and once Lance finished shoving leftover snacks into the pockets of his hoodie he started to take his leave. He slapped Shiro on the back, “Always a pleasure, Shiro.” he said with confidence even if his hands were sweaty with the nerves that came with trying casual banter with someone you respect and admire wholeheartedly. After passing Keith he turns and starts walking backwards out the door, “Try not to pick anything horribly depressing for next time, Samurai.” he says with a cocky smirk that made Keith notice a change in his own heart rate. “I’ll do my best to disappoint you.” Keith says walking toward the door with him to lock it. Before he can get the door closed all the way, Lance bursts forward and grabs him by the shoulders, getting up close and personal now in a different way; a way that made Keith go into panic mode: all wide eyes, pounding heart and warm face. “So what did you think of the movie?!” Lance asks with this kind of childlike anticipation that Keith found stupidly endearing. “I uh, I liked it. I thought it was really good.” he managed to reply despite his heartbeat compromising the use of his ears. Lance gives a huge grin and Keith genuinely thinks he’s having a heart attack. “I knew not even someone as emo as you could resist the charms of pregnant Ellen Page.” Lance chuckles and goes back to walking out. “Heh, yeah. Well, bye!” Keith panics and slams the door shut before locking it and leaning against it, clutching the fabric of his shirt where his chest is. “What was that?” Shiro asks, concerned that his brother looks like he’s about to keel over and die at any moment. “I have no idea.” 

 

  “I think I might be allergic to Lance.” Keith says with a kind of seriousness that has Shiro struggle to not laugh directly in his face. They’re in Keith’s bedroom, Keith sprawled across his bed clutching a pillow against himself, Shiro sitting on the edge to listen and try to offer some big brotherly wisdom but is currently struggling to keep a straight face. “What uh, what do you mean?” he asks. Keith sits up and leans against his headboard, “I dunno, recently I get all weird around him.” “Weird like how?” “Like, I get all sweaty and my heart starts beating really hard and my hands get all shaky and I feel like I can’t breathe. That’s gotta be me having some weird kind of allergic reaction to him, right?” Shiro’s eyes widen and he stays quiet while figuring out just how to approach his brother’s stupidity. “I highly doubt you’re allergic to a person you’ve known for years.” he says “Well what else could it be?!” “Let me ask you this: what do you really think about Lance?” Keith hesitates, “What do you mean?” Shiro’s face gets a bit more serious under the realization that Keith is genuinely confused and he’ll have to ease him into this new feeling. “I mean, how does he make you feel? What do you feel when you think about him and when he’s around you?” Keith’s brows furrowed, as if he’d never stopped and really considered his feelings about anything before, he stares off for a bit then says “He drives me crazy! He’s always pushing my buttons and he’s so loud and he’s always saying something so off the wall I can’t even keep up with him most of the time.” he pauses, “He doesn’t seem to care about what anyone thinks, and I think that’s amazing. He-” another pause, “He’s so kind and caring and has been such a positive influence in my life. If it weren’t for him I probably wouldn’t have made any friends and stayed the brooding loner kid at the back of the classroom.” he looks down at his fidgeting hands. “He’s got these eyes that I could stare into for hours, his smile is enough to make me forget everything else around me. When he flirts with girls in front of me I get a pit in my stomach and I feel like running away and hiding.” Shiro stays silent to let Keith figure himself out and, after a long bout of silence, Keith speaks up again. “Do I… Do I  _ like _ Lance?” Shiro lets out an airy chuckle, “I think you know the answer to that.” he says. “Well” Keith moves to face him a few inches away, “what should I do?!” he asks, his eyes pleading for help. “You have to tell him, Keith.” “I have to  _ what _ ?!” “Well do you want to know if he feels the same way?” Keith freezes, “I mean, I think I do. But what if he doesn’t? What if I tell him and he hates me for it? I don’t want to lose him, Shiro. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him.” “Woah there,” Shiro puts his hand on his shoulder, “you two have been friends for years, I don’t think he could ever hate you; least of all if it was over you having feelings for him.” Keith was silent, brows knit together in deep thought. “I know everything will work out just fine.” Shiro reassures before stepping out to give Keith some time to think.

 

  And think he did, for hours in fact, staring at the ceiling trying to make sense of the feeling radiating itself all over his body. Okay, so he liked Lance. Really  _ really _ like Lance. He tried to think back to when he first started feeling this way and came to the conclusion that it started around the first time Lance invited him over for a sleepover at his place. That was about 3 years ago, they were acne ridden freshmen in high school and Keith had been sitting outside the principal’s office waiting for Shiro to finish telling her that what happened would never happen again. Lance happened to be passing by to make copies for a teacher when he saw him,  _ “Woah, you’re the kid that beat the crap out of Connor Mell!”  _ he had said. Keith, mistaking his amazement for criticism, hung his head down in shame and managed to get out a quiet  _ “Yeah…” “Man, that guy’s such a jerk. Hey, you wanna come to a sleepover I’m having?!”  _ Keith’s head shot up immediately,  _ “Wha...what?!” “Me and my two best friends are having a sleepover at my place tomorrow night, I’m sure they’d love to hear the epic tale of your victory!”  _ Keith looked at Lance in disbelief. He wanted him to come over to his house? Hang out with him and his friends? Was this some sort of weird joke?  _ “Plus, I mean no offense but, I couldn’t help but notice you don’t really seem to y’know hang out with anyone. At least not anyone around here,”  _ he reached at the nape of his neck, a nervous tick, scared he might be blowing this attempt at being sociable,  _ “and I dunno I just uh, I wanted to know if you’d like to be friends or something?”  _ he asked the floor and then slowly lifted his head looking for Keith’s answer. Keith was understandably baffled, he had never been invited anywhere, he always had a hard time relating to people his age let alone someone like Lance. People always seemed to flock to him, he’s always had this sunny disposition; always smiling his big cheesy grin that seemed to invite everyone in. Meanwhile, Keith’s poor posture and resting bitch face coupled with his temperamental attitude served as a Keep Out sign to anyone who got too close. Normally Keith would decline (everyone leaves eventually he’s just cutting out the middleman right?) but something about the way Lance looked down at him nervously and the sincerity in his voice made him want to see this through.  _ “Uh, yeah sure.”  _ Keith said with a small nod of his head. Maybe it was the way Lance lit up like a Christmas tree after hearing his reply, his smile wider than ever, or maybe it was the way Lance almost ran off in excitement without making his copies. Either way, Keith distinctly remembers an unfamiliar feeling in his chest. 

 

  This wasn’t freshman year anymore though. They were seniors and in the next few months were expected to start mapping out their entire futures. A totally unfair time to expect everything to just perfectly fall into place. Even if Lance  _ did _ like him back, what then? They were graduating soon and Lance probably had a million things planned other than entertaining Keith’s naive fantasies. One’s that involve Lance lighting up in that spectacular way when he holds Keith’s hand for the first time. Or him telling Keith about the fuzzy feeling in his chest, the one that mirrors the one in Keith’s whenever they’re alone together. Or him wrapping his arms around Keith and pulling him in so close it’d be hard to believe there were anyone else in the world but them.  **_Shit._ **

 

  In an act of pure impulse, Keith picks up his phone to text him.

 

K: I need to talk to you about something.

 

**Shitshitshitshitshit what am I doing?!**

 

L: uuuhhh, sure what’s up? 

 

K: in person, tomorrow.

 

**What am I** **_doing?!_ **

 

L: alright? what’s this about???

 

  The hammering in Keith’s chest gets loud enough to bring him back to reality and he drops the phone onto his bed. How’s he supposed to explain himself?!

 

K: it’s nothing. i just i want to talk to you about something. i’m tired and i don’t want to forget to tomorrow.

 

L: okay then. i’ll be right over first thing.

**That’s not enough time that’s not enough time that’s not enough**

 

K: sounds good. see you then.

 

**F U C K**

 

  Keith quickly shuts his phone down and plugs it in to charge out of fear of causing even more damage than he already has. What the hell was he gonna say to him? What was he gonna say back? He had no plan, nothing but his thoughts and his emotions and those two combined have proven to get him into a hell of a lot of trouble in the past. He tried mapping out what he was going to say in his head and when that proved to be a massive waste of time, and when he just couldn’t keep his eyes open, he slept.

 

  The morning that followed was filled with nerves and thoughts of any and all possible outcomes of how this conversation was going to go. Keith did the usual: brushed his teeth, combed out his hair, made some cereal and got dressed. Despite not having any plans to go anywhere, he decided he didn’t want to confess his feelings in the boxer shorts and tank top he wore to bed. He didn’t want to seem too dressed up either so he settled on his usual ripped jeans and black t-shirt.

 

  The doorbell rings and in the moments following Keith strongly considers skipping town and changing his name. He wipes the palms of his hands down on his jeans before turning the knob and opening the door. Keith assumed that after coming to terms with his feelings for Lance, seeing him wouldn’t be as big a deal. He was wrong. Seeing him, looking so perfect despite it being 11 in the morning, just made Keith’s chest ache even more. He didn’t let it show though, at least he hoped he didn’t, there were pressing matters than admiring how cute Lance is. God he’s  _ so _ cute though. “Good morning!” Lance says sporting that big perfect smile of his, Keith’s holding his breath again. He manages to squeak out a “Hey…” and steps aside to let him inside. “Soooo, what’s this about? I figured it was pretty important, you seemed kinda weird last night.” Lance says before taking a seat on the couch, “Come on,” he pats the space next to him “tell Lancey Lance what’s wrong.” Keith couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the stupid nickname, an action that actually helped relieve some of the tension he felt in his body. He sits several inches away from Lance knowing if he got any closer he wouldn’t be able to remember his name let alone what he wanted to talk about. Lance seems to notice the distance and his cheesy smile fades into a look of concern. He doesn’t say anything else though which gives Keith a bit more time to choose his words, something Lance never seems to have trouble with.

 

  “I uh, I needed to tell you something and I had to do it in person.” he says looking down at his hands. Lance makes a noise like he was about say something but decided against it. “You and I have been friends for a while,” Keith starts “and I really, y’know, appreciate everything you’ve done for me and uh,” he stops and tries to look at Lance’s face. He’s got this kinda wide eyed, deer in the headlights kind of look and Keith quickly looks back at his hands in his lap. “I-I don’t want anything to mess that up and,” he pauses “and I don’t want you to like, think this changes anything.” Lance speaks up, “What does? Keith, what are you talking about?” he puts his hand on Keith’s shoulder, something meant to calm him down that does nothing but accelerate his heart rate. Keith swallows and says “I sort of, kinda, maybe…” he sighs “I like you, Lance.” “Keith…” “I know, alright?! It’s okay I know it’s super weird and I totally understand if it makes you uncomfortable and you want to stay away from me for a while,” “Keith.” “but just promise me that when this blows over we can still be friends because you’re like my best friend and-” “Keith! Babe, look at me.” Keith’s head shoots up to look him in the eyes as he registers what Lance just said.  _ Babe? _ Lance pauses and then sighs looking at Keith as if he were the best thing he’d ever seen. Keith’s not breathing. “I have been crazy about you for years.” Lance says, trailing his hands up to the sides of Keith’s face, “I’ve wanted to tell you for so so long but I dunno; I kinda just figured you weren’t interested so I tried to move on but,” he stops to just look at Keith again “you didn’t really make it easy for me.” he chuckles. Keith breaks out of his dumbfounded silence to sputter out an “I- You- What?” Lance laughs, “I like you too, Keith.” he says. This is a dream, it has to be. “This would be a really shitty time to tell me you’re joking.” Keith informs him. Lance lets out a chuckle, he moves a hand to grab one of Keith’s who, at this point, feels like his veins are made of electricity. He puts his hand to his chest, right above his heart “Does this feel like I’m joking?” Keith can feel his heart pound the same way he hear his own in his ears. He thinks he might cry. “You got me, that’s pretty concrete.” Keith says and lets out a nervous laugh. He looks back up to Lance’s eyes and decides he doesn’t want to look at anything else ever again. “Now, I could be wrong but, I think this is the part of the movie where we kiss for the first time while some Taylor Swift song plays in the background.” Lance says to which Keith replies, “You’re the expert.” Then they were kissing, Keith ran his hands into Lance’s hair while Lance wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him in so close he was almost in his lap. It’s a feeling that is never accurately described in any cheesy coming of age film and it puts them all to shame (pregnant Ellen Page be damned) 

  
  When they finally pull away from each other Lance shoots up out of his seat, “Not that I wouldn’t  _ love _ to spend eternity making out with you on this couch but, I think we have a lot of disgustingly romantic crap to do. Y’know, make up for the time we spended being oblivious idiots.” he says and extends his hand. Keith smiles wider than he probably ever has and lifts himself off the couch, “I think you’re right.” he agrees and takes his hand. Keith smiles to himself as he follows Lance’s lead out the door, acknowledging that nothing in his life has ever felt this  _ right _ . Their hands fit together so perfectly it’s as if they serve no other purpose than to be held together and, for the first time in a long time, Keith lets go of all the thoughts that told him he wasn’t allowed to have this. That said that something this perfect could never belong to something so broken. All he can think of is how beautiful his boyfriend is and how stupid they were to deny themselves each other and how they’ll spend however long they can giving each other everything they have to offer.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Feedback is more than welcome!  
> Tumblr: hella-smol


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